I'm a little angry in life.
Cronenberg's a lot of fun, and that a lot of people don't know watching his movies. He doesn't take himself seriously. He's still reinventing himself.
I feel to look for perfection is a very dangerous path. More than that, it's dangerous because it doesn't exist. You can aim for it, but you already know you won't get there because it doesn't exist. Plus, I definitely think the flaws, little cracks, and accidents are a lot more interesting.
They say the day you lose your parents, you start to look like them.
The minute I started being recognised, I became much more discreet.
I grew up watching 'Raging Bull.'
French men can be very tough too, you know... Real bad boys move in silence, as we know, so you don't have to be loud and muscular to be scary, actually.
I always compare human beings to animals. It's a nice way to figure out who they are.
I know that what I see in every religious person is not something I want to teach my kids.
My problem is I can't show any of my movies to my daughters. It's tough. 'Beauty and the Beast'... they liked it. But that's the only one, really. Otherwise, they've always been dark or violent.
Hollywood, for me, is the studios. It's a way to produce. It's a different way to make movies, and I never took part in that.
'Brotherhood of the Wolf' is a very important movie because it represents something new. The director Christophe Gans came up with the idea of taking a French legend and making it some kind of really strange, almost Chinese action movie. The result is something that I haven't seen anywhere before.
I worked with young directors all my life, only young directors.
I'm actually beginning to believe that there is something in common among all of my characters. I'm not sure what it is exactly. But I guess that something is me.
People look up to Jacques Mesrine as if he were a Robin Hood, stealing from the rich, but he never gave anything back to anybody.
I'm an actor, that's what I do every day. Dressing up is part of my job. But whatever you wear you should always be yourself: never go totally with the fashion but use what there is available to be an individual.
Actually, I never work in movies for money. I'm glad when I get well-paid, but it's not always the case - trust me.
My father danced a lot. He was called 'the French Fred Astaire.'
I don't think France is a racist country, I really don't, but we do still have many problems with our immigrant past, and there's a shame that goes with that, that works both ways, in the host and in the post-immigrant generation.
I was much more interested by clothes when I was younger. I'm about being discreet. What they call the French touch, whatever that means. Low profile and somehow elegant without being flashy.
I've always loved the idea of changing myself, wearing costumes and disguises. It takes you back to being a kid, to dressing up.
I have a tendency to think that when you portray baddies in movies, they come out more human than good guys.
To work with somebody you love makes filming faster, more fun.
When you see violence in movies in general, it's very quick and painless, which isn't what it's like.
The day after I had my licence to drive, I made Paris/Nice at 230 km/hour.
I think people have a misinterpretation of Method acting, because Method acting is a wonderful thing. The thing is, if you take it too seriously, it's like religion. You start to think it's the truth. But it's not the truth. It's just a way to get somewhere.
I did direct two short movies. I learned many things, and one of the things I learned was that I am not a director. It has to be visceral, and it's not for me. I feel much more comfortable acting.
I'm more attracted to the bad guys. Why? Because in real life, I don't know any good guys. I know okay guys. I know polite guys. I know people who can control themselves.
I come from an acting family, my father was an actor, and I had to fight my way and just create my own identity.
My father is best known for his light comedies, and I'm best known for crazy bad guys with short tempers.
The minute your parents die, you stop fighting them. I realized the more I changed my face for films, the more I looked like him. I always liked to disguise myself because I was trying to run away from his image. But all that is not worth it.
I spent a lot of time in boarding school. This is something I will never do to my kids. I think if you're having kids, then you have to take care of them; otherwise, what's the point? There are many things that parents say are good for the kids, but the truth is they say that because it is good for the parents.
People ask me where I live most of the time, and it's kind of complicated for me to answer, because I'm not really sure. It's somewhere in between London, Rome, Paris, and Rio.
My character in 'La Haine,' he's not bad; he's unhappy, and usually, people are like that. Most of us are angry.
The idea of telling a story in reverse destabilises your ordinary moral reactions. That's one of the points of art - to challenge your preconceptions.
I always had the sense of being in the spotlight, being on stage, being looked at.
I was a dancer, and my father was a dancer, so I really grew up in that environment.
I spent a whole year in New York without going back to France. And I always came back because my mother was living in New York since I was 13. So I went to summer camps, hang out at the Roxy, go to class for ballet, so I always had part of my life in New York.
There's only so much you can control in life.
All good actors are actresses. The more like a woman they are, the better they act, because a man's salvation is his femininity. Women have stronger sensibilities than men, which allows them to go a bit deeper when they are on and off the stage.
When you appear on the screen, often enough you become sexy, even if you look like an elephant.
I love French style from the Thirties and Forties. French movie stars like Jean Gabin and Yves Montand had so much natural, effortless style.
In Italy, it is difficult to see a film in the original language because the voice actors here are a mafia.
If I have to pretend to be anything else than French, then I know it's work for me. It's not that it scares me, but it's work. I cannot just pop up on the set and say 'Okay, today I'm Italian!'
I still wear my trousers baggy as I did in my teens. But in a different way. I've loved trainers since my youth - limited edition, vintage, whatever. You could recognise people and judge their character through their trainers. I'm a Nike man.
I don't really shop any more. I only do it when I have to. I think it is very overrated.
I love Cartier. They are the classic French jeweller.
What came out of 'Ocean's Twelve' is actually great because you do one 'Ocean's Twelve,' and you're more known around the world than if you did 20 years in the French cinema industry.
I really enjoy being an actor!
